The present invention relates to an on-board system and a method for safety control in vehicles and, more particularly, to an on-board integrated system and a method for safety control in heavy vehicles, such as trucks and other transporting vehicles.
A vehicle of any type is designed to carry up to a maximum load in a predesigned distribution over its load bearing system. Overloading a vehicle is associated with reduced safety while transporting the load, with accelerated aging of various parts and systems of the vehicle, including the bearing system, the break system, the axles, the wheels, the engine, etc., and with accelerated aging of the roads, all of which contribute to reduced safety.
Overloading affects the ability to accelerate and decelerate, the functionality of the shock absorbing (suspension) system (i.e., the bearings), the heating of the wheels, and may lead to dangerous side acceleration and therefore side lean, all of which may end-up in situations one would like to avoid.
Overloaded vehicles, introduce a safety hazard to other commuters, damage the roads and break the law. Since in most cases a driver is not involved in the loading process, the driver of an overloaded vehicle is not always aware of the overload condition in the beginning of the ride. At the time the driver becomes aware of the situation it may be too late, since the vehicle may have already lost its breaks on a down slope or lost its balance entering even a moderate curve.
There are several prior art systems which are designed for on-board measure of the load on the vehicle. These systems are typically used for commercial proposes, i.e., to measure the weight of goods which are priced by their weight.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,410,109 to Tarter et al. discloses a vehicle on-board weighting system and method, which include measuring the total weight over each load bearing unit and presenting the individual and total loads. However, this system fails to provide additional safety parameters, and/or to integrate the information collected into hazardous signal(s) and/or transportation limitations which are associated with any specific vehicle.
Additional prior art on-board weighting systems which perform even less include U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,270,494; 5,393,936; 5,478,974; and 5,230,392. None of the prior art systems monitor a "safety envelop", i.e., a collection of measured and calculated parameters which enable to determine whether a vehicle is in some kind of dangerous or unlawful condition.
There is thus a widely recognized need for, and it would be highly advantageous to have, an on-board integrated system and method for safety control in heavy vehicles, such as trucks and other transporting vehicles which provides the operator with safety information concerning the vehicle.